Open letter to Michael Chong, MP, Wellington-Halton Hills
Mr. Chong, please join other fair-minded Conservatives – Senators Hugh Segal & Don Plett and MP Peter Goldring – in standing up for the rule of law. In Canada, our Constitution provides for the right of all citizens to be proven guilty before sentencing. This clearly is not what’s happening in the Senate and to allow it is an abomination.
I do not condone improper expense claims. However, discussions in the Senate and in Parliament this week revealed there is a lot more to learn about what happened and why. Senators Wallin, Duffy and Brazeau simply deserve the opportunity to defend themselves in an unbiased forum.
Many Canadians believe there has been interference in the case of each of the Senators under investigation from the Prime Minister himself and from the PMO. In Sen. Duffy’s case, the Prime Minister’s account of the facts in Parliament has changed with each new revelation.
Senators and MPs are directed by the PMO. Because all communications between MPs and Senators with the RCMP must first be cleared by the Public Safety Minister, one must ask whether the government is also interfering in the operations of the RCMP to control its political message. Why has it taken so long for the RCMP to lay charges if, as we’re led to believe, these Senators’ offences are beyond dispute?
Our democracy is not being well served in this climate. Citizens need to know that the players in the “most serious political scandal in our history” (historian Michael Bliss) will be judged fairly and independently, free of pressure from any source – political or otherwise.
The most transparent and fairest way to do this is to appoint an independent prosecutor.
Can we count on your support, Mr. Chong?
Pat Martin